RELIGIOUS MILITANCY AND TRIBAL TRANSFORMATION IN PAKISTAN: A CASE STUDY OF MAHSUD TRIBE IN SOUTH WAZIRISTAN AGENCY By MUHAMMAD IRFAN MAHSUD Ph.D. Scholar DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF PESHAWAR (SESSION 2011 – 2012) RELIGIOUS MILITANCY AND TRIBAL TRANSFORMATION IN PAKISTAN: A CASE STUDY OF MAHSUD TRIBE IN SOUTH WAZIRISTAN AGENCY Thesis submitted to the Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE (December, 2018) DDeeddiiccaattiioonn I Dedicated this humble effort to my loving and the most caring Mother ABSTRACT The beginning of the 21st Century witnessed the rise of religious militancy in a more severe form exemplified by the traumatic incident of 9/11. While the phenomenon has troubled a significant part of the world, Pakistan is no exception in this regard. This research explores the role of the Mahsud tribe in the rise of the religious militancy in South Waziristan Agency (SWA). It further investigates the impact of militancy on the socio-cultural and political transformation of the Mahsuds. The study undertakes this research based on theories of religious militancy, borderland dynamics, ungoverned spaces and transformation. The findings suggest that the rise of religious militancy in SWA among the Mahsud tribes can be viewed as transformation of tribal revenge into an ideological conflict, triggered by flawed state policies. These policies included, disregard of local culture and traditions in perpetrating military intervention, banning of different militant groups from SWA and FATA simultaneously, which gave them the raison d‘etre to unite against the state and intensify violence and the issues resulting from poor state governance and control. The study explores the unique tribal characteristics of the Mahsuds, such as asylum provision, autonomy and lack of centralized leadership, which had historically facilitated the rise of religious militancy during the colonial times, replicating itself in the post 9/11 period. The flawed state policies encouraged autonomy of the young tribesmen from local institutions of Jirga and Malikship, thereby facilitating them to join the militant movement in SWA. Moreover, such state policies, coupled with military operations caused confusion among the Mahsud tribes and forced them to neither support the military directly, nor halt the activities of the militants. The findings also contradict the widely held narrative that Mahsuds as a tribe participated in the fight against the state in SWA in post 2001 period. As the findings suggest, the religious elite, including the local Imams, i Madrassa dropouts and the Afghan war militants had a strong role in directly inciting violence and insurgency and influencing young tribesmen. The pre-mature military intervention further pushed the war affected tribesmen, especially the family members of injured/killed/disappeared, into militancy. However, due to several reasons, including the integration of the Mahsuds in the mainstream community of Pakistan, the larger majority of the tribesmen did not participate in the insurgency against the state. The research further explores the impacts of displacement on the socio-cultural and political institutions of the Mahsud tribe as a result of militancy and subsequent military operations. The migration/displacements severely impacted the tribesmen, including their socio-cultural and political institutions of Malikship and Jirga, thereby impacting their tribal identities. Other political implications include a progressive decline in levels of support to religious political parties by local tribesmen. There is a further impact evident through a general tendency to support non-violent ethnicity based social movements against state excesses. The study has primarily employed ethnographic based data collection tools for research, such as semi-structured interviews, informal discussions and personal observations to reach its findings. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS S. No. Topic Page No. Abstract i-ii Acknowledgement v List of Acronyms vi-vii Chapter – 1 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Literature Review 4 1.3 Theoretical Framework 11 1.4 Statement of the Problem 18 1.5 Objectives of the Study 19 1.6 Research Questions 19 1.7 Significance of the Study 19 1.8 Methodology 20 1.9 Plan of the Thesis 22 Chapter – 2 2. HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS MILITANCY IN PAKISTAN 24 2.1 Introduction 24 2.2 Militancy: A Historical Perspective 26 2.3 Post 1947 Era: The Fusion of Radical Notions 28 2.4 Post 1947 Era and Strengthening of Radicalization 30 2.5 The Post 9/11 Period and the Rise of Militant Groups in FATA 38 2.6 Conclusion 42 Chapter – 3 3. HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS MILITANCY AMONG THE MAHSUDS IN SWA 3.1 Introduction 44 3.2 South Waziristan Agency: Physical Settings and The Location of 44 Mahsud Tribe 3.3 Pashtuns among Pashtuns: The Mahsud tribe 46 3.4 Sections and subsections of the Mahsud tribe 48 3.4.1 The Alizaii Branch 50 3.4.2 The Bahlolzai Branch 51 3.4.3 The Shaman Khel Branch 52 3.4.4 The Burki/Oremur and Syeds 52 3.5 History of the Mahsuds with the Colonial Rulers 53 3.6 The Tribal Character of the Mahsuds and Rivalries 67 3.7 The Mahsud Tribe and Pakistan 72 3.8 Conclusion 75 ii S.No. Topic Page No. Chapter – 4 4. SOUTH WAZIRISTAN AGENCY: RELIGIOUS MILITANCY IN THE POST 9/11 PERIOD 4.1 Introduction 77 4.2 Militancy in SWA and the Transformation of Legal System 77 4.3 The Penetration of Military in SWA: Militant Organizations and the 80 Mahsud Tribe 4.4 Militant Organizations and their Leadership in SWA 91 4.5 Conclusion 98 Chapter – 5 5. SOCIO-CULTURAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE MAHSUD TRIBE 5.1 Introduction 99 5.2 The Concept of Social Transformation and the Mahsud Tribe 99 5.3 The Mahsud Tribe: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the 101 Socio-Cultural Transformation 5.4 Leadership Institution of the Mahsud Tribe 122 5.5 Institution of Malikship and Tribal Transformation 123 5.6 Institution of Jirga among Mahsuds: Past and Present 131 5.7 Political Arena and Mahsud Tribe 138 5.8 Mahsud Women: Social and Political Life 145 5.9 Education System in Mahsud Area: Issues, Hurdles and Way 149 Forward 5.10 Conclusion 158 6. CONCLUSION 160 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 170 8. APPENDIX-I 208 9. APPENDIX-II 214 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT In pursuit of work like this, many individuals have to play a role in achieving the desired goal. The time consumed in this pursuit would not mean much without collateral learning outcomes. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my research supervisor Dr. Shahida Aman, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar, for her enormous support, knowledge, guidance and encouragement throughout this study. Her skills and erudition made it possible for me to disentangle many knots. I also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of my Co-supervisor Dr. Muhammad Ayub Jan, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar, who extended me all- out support and help -- from proposal to the completion of this dissertation. I am grateful beyond words to Professor Dr. Abdul Rauf, Chairman, Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar, for his guidance and cooperation. I am indebted to my close relative and friend, Dr. Saad Salman, for providing me logistic support during my field research in South Waziristan Agency and Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. I also thank friends and colleagues for reading chapters or the entire manuscripts and giving valuable, critical and encouraging advice that was often accepted and appreciated but rarely declined. I thank you all for allowing me to encroach on your time. The list of these colleagues and friends is very long but their critical judgement I always value. I am particularly grateful to Prof. Dr. Taj Muharram Khan, Ex-Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Peshawar, Dr. Wajid Khattak, Dr. Naved-ul-Hassan, Mr. Sajjad Hussain and Mr. Ibrar Hussain. I am deeply indebted to my late father whose generosity, emotional support and pride have been unflagging. Finally, I thank my mother for her love and patience and putting up with scarce attention from me over the last five years, also I am very thankful to my younger sister Marina Mehsud for her love, confidence and moral support in the walk of my life. Muhammad Irfan Mahsud iv LIST OF ACRONYMS ACS Additional Chief Secretary AEOs Agency Education Officers ANP Awami National Party APA Assistant Political Agent APS Army Public School FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan FC Frontier Corps FCR Frontier Crimes Regulations FIDA Foundation of Integrated Development Action GDC Government Degree College ICG International Crisis Group IDPs Internally Displaced Persons IEDs Improvised Explosive Devices ISIS Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISPR Inter Services Public Relations JI Jamat-e-Islami JUD Jama‘at-ud-Da‘wah JUI-F Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal-ur-Rehman KP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa LeJ Lashkar-e-Jhangvi MTM Mahsud Tahafuz Movement MWA Mahsud Welfare Association NAP National Action Plan v NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations NWA North Waziristan Agency NWD North Waziristan District PA Political Agent PC Peace Committee PHC Peshawar High Court PML-N Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz PPPP Pakistan People‘s Party Parliamentarians PTI Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf PTM Pashtun Tahafuz Movement SMP Sipah-e-Mohammad Pakistan SSP Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan SWA South Waziristan Agency SWD South Waziristan District TDPs Temporarily Displaced Persons TTF Teman Tehreek Force TTP Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan UCHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN United Nations WAWA Wana Welfare Association WoT War on Terror vi CHAPTER – 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION Religious militancy may be defined as violent resistance by one section of the society to confront varied challenges to its sense of self or identity.